The concern, voiced at a Dec. 15 meeting of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's Transportation Policy Council - the region's transportation planning group - was shared in response to decisions by the Texas Transportation Commission. A day earlier, the commission removed two projects in the Dallas and Austin areas from the state's 10-year transportation plan because proposed expansions of Interstates 635 and 35 rely on a mix of state funding and toll revenues.

State lawmakers, in securing voter approval for two highway spending plans, had pledged not to use any of the money to advance toll roads. Both projects veered a little too close to mixing that state money with toll plans, drawing the ire of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

The transportation commissioners yielded to the concerns of state officials, despite some Dallas- and Austin-area supporters defending the projects as smart uses of tax dollars with toll components aimed at encouraging carpool and transit use.

Even in striking the I-35 and I-635 expansions from coming plans, transportation commissioners noted the $3 billion in additional money expected for highways annually is not enough.

"Those other projects are not going away," Transportation Commissioner Jeff Austin said. "They will get more expensive as we wait."

No Houston-area projects were affected by the changes to the state's Unified Transportation Plan. In fact, the region's most sought-after project, the massive redesign of Interstates 45 and 69 and Texas 288 in downtown Houston, was included in the updated plan.

It is the next round of projects, including the continuation of the I-45 redesign plans, that has Houston-area officials concerned. A number of projects, including the I-45 lanes north of downtown, could use managed lanes to add capacity to freeways while curtailing vehicle use. That mix of adding lanes to freeways but incorporating more carpool and tolling use has been popular in Houston, even as some groan at the notion of more tolling.

State lawmakers, Houston officials said, may have cut off that option for financing freeway expansion.

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"The thinking that I believe has caught us all by surprise is managed lanes," said Alan Clark, manager of transportation and air quality programs for H-GAC. "Even though the proposal would not use state funds for the managed lanes, but for freeway improvements, it means even if that project is next door to (the toll lanes), you can't use state money."

Local elected officials are intensely committed to their own toll road efforts.

"Toll roads are our business," said Fort Bend County Commissioner James Patterson.

Though the Harris County Toll Road Authority, controlled by county commissioners, is the largest toll operator in the Houston area, it has been joined by many contemporaries in the past decade. Toll roads have opened or are planned in Fort Bend, Montgomery and Brazoria counties. TxDOT also built the Grand Parkway in Harris County, while the Metropolitan Transit Authority oversees HOT lanes along I-45, I-69 and U.S. 290.

Workers currently are adding a tollway in the center of Texas 288 from the Brazoria County line to downtown Houston. Work will start soon on the next phase of the Grand Parkway east, from I-69 near Kingwood to I-10.

Montgomery County and TxDOT worked closely to add toll lanes and expand Texas 249 to relieve traffic between the Houston area and College Station.

"Without that project, it would have been 10 years before TxDOT could start that road," Doyal said, "and that is just unacceptable."

Critics, however, say the state and local officials should live within their means like any household budget. Voters approved more money for transportation under the belief they would see improved freeways, not new toll lanes, said Don Dixon, who often attends state transportation meetings and challenges officials to reject toll roads. He called reliance on tolls "elitist" and counterproductive to encouraging business growth.

"The more money you pay, the faster ride you get, I don't like that," Dixon said. "We need to have a system in Texas that everybody can use for a low cost."

The challenge, state officials acknowledge, is whether that can be accomplished via any single method of paying for highways.

"We are indifferent to the sources of funding streams, but we are not indifferent to the need," Transportation Commission Chairman Bruce Bugg said.

Local officials countered that the need - and the state's inability to get many needed projects under construction - is why they have been so willing to embrace tolls, both in Houston and in suburban communities, to help people and freight move.

Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack said county officials are about to spend $1 billion for a new Sam Houston Tollway bridge across the Houston Ship Channel. If the states takes aim at toll projects, Radack said, perhaps they can build the new bridge.